


Of scaled rocky tails and daring tales, fill my head with fantastical fortunes and stories

by RoniTheArsonist



Series: My Million Mer AUs [1]
Category: Tales of Arcadia (Cartoons), Trollhunters - Daniel Kraus & Guillermo del Toro
Genre: A lot is uncertain, Alternate Universe, Arcadia is a Beach Town, Art, Beaches, Boats and Ships, Don't think I'll include 3 Below just yet, Draal may live, I have made some arts, I love my fishy half troll, Im a sucker for fish, Mer AU, No Beta We Die Like Draal, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, SO, They are not accessible yet, Troll Jim Lake Jr., Undecided Relationships, mermaid au, so this happened, tags to be added as the story progresses
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-18
Updated: 2020-08-18
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:08:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25973392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RoniTheArsonist/pseuds/RoniTheArsonist
Summary: Arcadia was a small harbor town that thrived off the strangely abundant and lively sea-life that grew within their bay. It seemed like your stereotypical little beach-town, where everybody knew each other and the days were good.Which is why everybody knew when James "Jim" Lake Jr, son of kind doctor Barbara and the strange but liked, hardworking young boy, disappeared.Four teens become wrapped up with the unsolved mystery of Jim's disappearance, and the strange, covered-up cases that have befallen their town since it's beginning. Soon they're dragged deep, but it's unclear whether they'll manage to tread the treacherous, murky water, or if they've swum out too far from shore."To sink or to swim", after all.
Relationships: Toby Domzalski & Jim Lake Jr. & Claire Nuñez
Series: My Million Mer AUs [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1885180
Comments: 10
Kudos: 33





	Of scaled rocky tails and daring tales, fill my head with fantastical fortunes and stories

**Author's Note:**

> This was coming at some point.  
> I just love fish and mer too much to not make an AU for every fandom I'm deeply invested in.  
> The title and summary are still a little uncertain, I'm open to suggestions so feel free!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I realize now it may seem slightly unclear at the beginning but Jim is a lifeguard (in-training?) and works a late-afternoon to early-evening shift for a local restaurant in the mornings and evenings. I have absolutely no idea what either would entail so I mainly just made guesses and came up with shit on the spot as I went. I do know that the minimum age to be a lifeguard is 17, and that they do earn, but Jim is only 15 so he doesn't actually earn any money, he's still training. He does earn a little from his kitchen job but it's not enough to live off.  
>  ~~I lied I did do some research.~~  
>  I could go on about the character building but I want to leave it here for now and get on to the actual chapter. If anyone wants, I could maybe dedicate a chapter to just explaining my ideas and answering any questions y'all have?

**Most of Jim's Saturdays were spent on the beach.**  
It was to be expected, with Arcadia offering beautiful beaches only found on post-cards of the Caribbeans, or Whitsundays, or similar tropical dream-spots, but these beaches in particular were mainly untouched by tourism, tucked away in a little no-name bay near a little unimportant town. The waters were a little chillier than one might desire of a beach, and they were considerably smaller than the kilometre-long expanses of sand that stretched along the edges of islands or countries, but for Jim, it was home.

Arcadia was a relatively loose school, with their lack of a uniform and their shorter hours - the average school day only being two to three hours of pure learning instead of a grueling, dragged out six (with lunch-breaks), the trade off being they attended six days a week, not five. The students seemed more than happy with the trade-off as a whole, and the teachers were extremely happy with the arrangement, so in reality, everybody won. Most pulled off a decent grade without a hitch, and the remainder of the day was often spent relaxing within town or the beach, unless you were held back by Uhl the Unforgiving. Why a small Californian school decided Spanish was a good fourth subject to teach, nobody figured out, but rumors circulated fast, and nobody dared complain lest Uhl, the cruel and most definitely sadistic teacher of said subject, come after them next.

Jim was one of the few students that took advantage of the given time fully, his days being filled with early-morning watches and late evening kitchen shifts. While he and his mother in no way needed help getting by, Barbara being one of the few fully licensed doctors available (and probably the only to charge a fair price, in Jim's opinion), he enjoyed being able to help Arcadia and treat his mother at the same time. Even if it was only used to buy ingredients with his own money in order to cook her one of her favorites for breakfast, so be it.

The sea-breeze on this particular morning was crisp and clean, cold and refreshing in his lungs. Jim inhaled deeply, eyes fluttering shut as he took in the familiar sounds and smells of Arcadia; the rhythmic pounding of the waves, the cries of the seagulls, the sizzle of battered fish in Stuart's nearby fish-&-chips food-van, accompanied by the mouthwatering smell of frying fish and potato fries, which mixed with the smell of the ocean spray, an unforgettable saltiness that lingered in the back of the mouth. He stood like that for a moment, digging his toes in the grainy sand beneath him and relaxing his muscles. Considerably calmer, not that he'd been upset of particularly tense in any way, he made a bee-line for the Surf Lifesavers hut posted at the edge of the beach, quickly entering and signing himself in. That done, any valuables he'd rather not get wet or potentially stolen left in the small building with his bag, he quickly took his post in the tall watch-chair overlooking the ocean. This time in the morning, when the sun's just rose, and the wind still nippy and the water still ice-cold, few people littered the beach, even fewer in the ocean aside from a couple of regular lap-swimmers he sometimes joined, if he didn't have a watch-shift that day. 

The day was turning out to be the same as usual, which was, in this small town, admittedly uneventful and sometimes even lacking. While many were happy with this, Toby being the first to come to Jim's mind when he thought that, to Jim it was repetitive and missing _something_. Something he couldn't put his finger on, something on the tip of his tongue.

Adventure.

That was the word.

He was missing the sense of adventure he'd been searching for all his life, something to show him that there was more than this small town waiting for him. He loved Arcadia, but it simply lacked that spark he was chasing after, that liveliness. There was never anything new for him, nothing to sate his wonderlust, as his mother once called it, which was easily distracted when he and Toby were small children, exploring the few rock-pools the beach had to offer and small woods lining the cul-de-sac they both lived in, but now grew tired of the repeated schedule he'd fallen into. The most excitement he'd get were from Miss Janeth's sudden pop-quizzes of death and Senor Uhl's soul crushing Spanish Exams, alongside Coach Lawrence's absurd fitness test, which were hardly a good or enjoyable kind of exciting, or something he looked forwards to.

Today, it seemed, was practically empty, leaving Jim alone with the seagulls, the teen taking the time to stew in his thoughts. With a weary sigh, he rests his chin on his palm, bright blue eyes looking down at the water absentmindedly. If it weren't for this, his eye probably wouldn't have caught the stray flash of a shiny object catching a stray ray of sun, the bored individual opting to pick up the mysterious object which had just washed ashore, which was admittedly most likely rubbish. Even if it was nothing of worth or interest, he'd prefer to keep the beach as clean as possible, and to keep potentially harmful objects out of the seagull's reach, if possible. He'd grown somewhat fond of the birds, many mornings spent throwing spare chips from his quick fish-and-chip breakfast for them in his break-times, watching amused as they squabbled. He'd developed a little game of giving them each elaborate names and trying to remember which bird is which, although he's 90% sure he's never gotten any right. 

He's roughly three feet away from the object in question he'd gone to retrieve when he hears the voice. It's low, and powerful, and reverberates in his ears and around his brain for a while after the echo it caused fades (what kind of voice causes in echo in open air?). "James Lake," it boomed, making him jump. He searches frantically, but there's no people in sight, and nowhere close enough to plant a radio or walkie-talkie of some kind - he'd been the first on shift, the beach having been closed before him, not that anyone from school actually knew he worked as a Lifesaver aside from Toby. Besides, it was low tide now, if there was a device buried nearby the previous day, it would most likely either be water-damaged or washed away right now. (Still, Jim strongly believed that it was some dumb elaborate plank to, what? Spook him?)

His thoughts cast out for another explanation, but came back empty. He can only hope the pranksters retrieve the well-hidden device used when he leaves, as he evidently couldn't find it, and he hated dirtying the beach with unnecessary rubbish and still working junk.

"James Lake," the voice intones, and he starts again, not expecting it. It has an undertone of urgency now, as if getting impatient. Jim throws his arms up in defeat, twisting around to search the beach again. 

"Okay!" he shouts in no clear direction. "Haha! You've got me, twice! You can stop thanks!" Silence is the only answer he gets. He's annoyed now, kicking around in the sand for some sort of transmitter or similar. His face burns, he must look like a real idiot right now. He doesn't know why he's so worked up.

His mother was right. She'd said it with a joking tone, but maybe the stress truly _was_ getting to him and he's going delirious. He certainly must seem insane to any bystanders that walk by.

He's only slightly more prepared when the voice calls him a third time; it doesn't bother hiding it's impatience now. Jim's getting angry, he doesn't know why. It was a good joke the first time, the second stretching it a bit. A third time is going too far. He reaches for something solid to throw at any potential hiding spots, maybe catching the pranksters if he's lucky enough (or unlucky enough, considering his mom would kill him should he ever cause a concussion or something similar.

His hand closes around the object that caught his eye a few minutes earlier; he'd moved back when startled, and it was the first thing he grabbed.

There's a flash of splintered sea-green light, like someone shined a million small lights through a million small pieces of green sea glass. Jim yelps in fright, tries to pull his hand away. A burning travels across his arm, from where his hand closed around the object. It quickly covers his entire body, a bright, oceanic blue layer of crackling, wispy light encompassing him.

Hours later, Barbara Lake wakes in her bed on the other side of town. She puts on her glasses, puts the pre-cooked breakfast Jim made her in the oven, and answers the door when somebody started frantically knocking. She blinks bemusedly when she spots Toby Dumzalski, her sons best (and only friend) panting on her porch.

"I've searched everywhere," are the first words out of his mouth. "Everywhere but here. I can't find Jim."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Approx. 1,500 words. I was hoping for a little more but I also wanted to end it at a sort of ambiguous cliff-hangerish ending without dragging it out too much. Tell me what y'all think happened so I can see how obvious I am and what you guys think.  
> Welp, it's 2AM and I'm super tired, I'll shut up and sleep now.
> 
> Below is a list of what music I listened to when writing this chapter! If you aren't interested, skip this!
> 
>   * [1 hour _Best of 2020 Mix_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bTittbGYGk) by 7even Cloud on Youtube
>   * [_Hold On To Me_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkbsl9fC1tg&index=4&list=PLYUn4YaogdagFcWST0epy-5S6OpRZiwN6) by Erzam Sant was listen to a few times on repeat in particular 
> 


**Author's Note:**

> I sometimes struggle a little with pacing so if anything feels off I'd appreciate a comment!  
> Again, a reminder that this is Unbeta'd, so I'd greatly appreciate if you catch any mistakes. Certain words or phrases may be a little strange, due to me doing a lot of background worldbuilding and stuff (as one does) so if you accidentally catch any of that I'll make sure to explain!


End file.
